Random Observations #3 (Updated)
So many things have changed since I was my daughter’s age.
- There’s one fewer planet in our Solar System now.
- There are a lot more planets known now, all outside our system.
- When I was her age, we went to the Moon; these days we have to hitchhike rides to low Earth orbit from the remnant of our one-time mortal enemy.
- Which means that all those planets are just that much farther away now.
- The brontosaurus is no more, replaced by the more taxonomically correct apatosaurus.
- The disposable diaper.
- The mores and morals of the country.
- The socio-economic and demographic structure of the country: we’re a lot more like a Third World country these days in so many ways.
- Extremely powerful computers are so common that they’re hardly remarked upon anymore – except by people roughly my age and older. We remember when computers of any power were much less common than toasters, not more common than radios.
UPDATE: wj makes the following additional, excellent point in the comments:
I’d add ubiquitous cameras. It’s not just that everybody has a cell phone with a camera . . . and seems to use it constantly. It’s that cameras seem to be in every public space, and running most of the time. No doubt this is handy for police trying to track criminals. But it means that you have to get a long way into the country to have any chance of any privacy in your life.
Ambiance 
wj said,
May 4, 2013 at 5:22 pm
I’d add ubiquitous cameras. It’s not just that everybody has a cell phone with a camera . . . and seems to use it constantly. It’s that cameras seem to be in every public space, and running most of the time. No doubt this is handy for police trying to track criminals. But it means that you have to get a long way into the country to have any chance of any privacy in your life.
karen said,
May 4, 2013 at 6:38 pm
Facebook.
i do not have a Facebook.
I forget where, but i recently saw a clip of a Morning Show(not CBS, i don’t think)w/Bryant Gumble laughing and questioning e-mail… how would it work, how do you register an e-mail acct, etc.
Made him look like an ass then, makes him look like an ass now.
Icepick said,
May 4, 2013 at 6:44 pm
Excellent point, wj. I’m going to add that (with attribution) into the post.
And karen, he looked like an ass because he IS an ass!
karen said,
May 4, 2013 at 7:15 pm
I saw him interview the Big Blue Dog, too- and he hated that dog.
It was pretty funny how insulting he was. On camera.
karen said,
May 6, 2013 at 7:52 pm
So, why bury Tsarnev at all? Why not cremate rather than bury his remains– and then allow the wife/Uncle/whoever to assume responsibility?
So– burials?
Icepick said,
May 7, 2013 at 8:51 am
I don’t know why the guy needs to be buried either, save that an embalmer got to the body before a crematorium owner.